Forever

Colour, 35 mm
Netherlands, 2006, 95 min
Section: Focus on the Netherlands

Synopsis

Heddy Honigmann’s award-winning philosophical-poetic meditation on the significance of art in people’s lives was filmed in the preserve where love and death fuse with beauty: in the world famous Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Several artists from different periods in history and various corners of the globe were laid to rest here, including Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust and Jim Morrison. Many of them are worshipped to this day – Oscar Wilde’s grave is covered in lipstick kisses – while others have fallen into oblivion. The director not only speaks to the people who come to this romantically melancholic and uplifting place to honour the memory of celebrated geniuses, or to seek inspiration for their life and work (like the Japanese pianist who, thanks to Chopin’s music, finds a spiritual bond with her dead father). She also gently questions those who have buried their beloved spouses, parents or friends, they tend their graves and are glad to share their grief, their fond memories and, in some cases, their remarkable life stories.

About the director

Heddy Honigmann (b. 1951, Lima) was born in Peru’s capital, where her family relocated from Poland in 1939. After attending university in Lima she left for Europe to study at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. She has had Dutch citizenship since 1978. She gave her debut in 1988 with the feature film Mindshadows (Hersenschimmen). For her romantic drama Au revoir (Tot ziens, 1995) she was awarded the Dutch Film Critics Award at the Netherlands Film Festival. Her documentary films Metal and Melancholy (Metaal en melancholie, 1993), O Amor Natural (1996), The Underground Orchestra (Het ondergrondse orkest, 1997), Crazy (1999) and Give Me Your Hand (Dame la mano, 2003) garnered a series of awards. Her film Forever (2006) was screened at the Netherlands Film Festival and took away the award for Best Feature Documentary and the Film Critics Award.